Truman Capote

Wiilliam E. Sauro/The New York Times

Truman Capote, the novelist, short story writer and literary celebrity, pioneered a genre he called ''the nonfiction novel,'' exemplified by his immensely popular ''In Cold Blood.'' He died apparently without having completed his long- promised ''masterwork,'' an extensive novel called ''Answered Prayers.''

Mr. Capote's first story was published while he was still in his teens, but his work totaled only 13 volumes, most of them slim collections, and in the view of many of his critics, notably his old friend John Malcolm Brinnin, he failed to join the ranks of the truly great American writers because he squandered his time, talent and health on the pursuit of celebrity, riches and pleasure.

"I had to be successful, and I had to be successful early,'' Mr. Capote said in 1978. ''The thing about people like me is that we always knew what we were going to do. Many people spend half their lives not knowing. But I was a very special person, and I had to have a very special life. I was not meant to work in an office or something, though I would have been successful at whatever I did. But I always knew that I wanted to be a writer and that I wanted to be rich and famous.'' Success, both as a writer and as a celebrity, came early, when he was 23 years old and published his first novel, ''Other Voices, Other Rooms.'' It was a critical and financial success, and so were most of the volumes of short stories, reportage and novellas that followed, including ''Breakfast at Tiffany's,'' ''The Muses Are Heard,'' ''The Grass Harp,'' ''Local Color,'' ''The Dogs Bark'' and ''Music for Chameleons.''

But the book that perhaps solidified his claim to literary fame was ''In Cold Blood,'' his detailed, painstakingly researched and chilling account of the 1959 slaying of a Kansas farm family and the capture, trial and execution of the two killers.

Highlights From the Archives

Book Review Desk

Truman Capote relentlessly cultivated his fame, broke into high society and, once ousted from it, became a fixture at places like Studio 54. But as much as he was responsible for the equation that fame equals accomplishment, he knew it wasn't true and that knowledge proved to be his

December 28, 1997artsReview

Book Review Desk

How Truman Capote went from an enchanter, the startlingly fresh voice of his first novel "Other Voices, Other Rooms," to someone who laid waste his friends and skewered his competitiors with poisonous prose is an amazing story, as disturbing as anything Capote ever wrote.

June 12, 1988artsReview

Cultural Desk

When Truman Capote wrote ''In Cold Blood'' 22 years ago, readers were told that the book fell somewhere between fiction and fact. It was called a report of a murder, a fictionalized story, a courtroom drama. Finally, the book about the killing in 1959 of a farm family in a small town in Kansas and the capture, trial and execution of the two young murderers was labeled and promoted as something new in literature: a ''nonfiction novel.

March 15, 2013, Friday

A collection of Studio 54 memorabilia and artwork owned by Steve Rubell, the co-founder of that New York disco club, sold for a total of $316,680 at an auction on Saturday, and included items by Warhol as well as candid photos of the club's celebrity...